


Writings From The Ink Demonth

by Circus_Craze



Series: Bendy and the Ink Machine Fics [7]
Category: Bendy and the Ink Machine
Genre: Additional Warnings In Author's Note, Bendy is short, Cutesy, Dancing, Don’t copy to another site, Drabble Collection, Fluff, Multi, One Shot Collection, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Slow Dancing, The ink demonth
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-02
Updated: 2019-07-14
Packaged: 2020-06-02 21:01:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,515
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19449463
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Circus_Craze/pseuds/Circus_Craze
Summary: A collection of writings I did for Halfusek's July Ink Demonth prompts.





	1. Growth

**Author's Note:**

> This is a collection of the fics I wrote for the prompts. I'm planning on doing mainly art for the prompts, but I have written some fics for them, so I'll be posting those here. Warnings will be added as I go and in the notes before each chapter if there are any triggers. 
> 
> I hope you all enjoy my short stories!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Henry brings an odd thing home from town with him. It appears to be a giant ruler that measures height. Bendy's excited, but it seems he just can't grow like his siblings. Will he ever be able to grow taller?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here was what I wrote for the second day of Ink Demonth. The prompt was "Growth." I hope you all enjoy this!

Alice was the first one to hear the car pull into the driveway. She looked outside and jumped up quickly. "Henry's home!" She shouted to her two brothers. "And he's carrying something inside with him!"

"Really?" Boris asked, rushing over to the window to look. "It looks like some kind of really long board." 

"I want to see!" Bendy was the last one to the window, trying to peer over it but finding he was too short. By the time he managed to jump up to look, Henry was already out of view. He frowned, then smiled again once he heard the front door open. 

"I'm home!" Henry called out. 

The toons raced down the stairs, Bendy nearly tumbling down some stairs from how fast he was going. He got to the bottom, and he and the others crowded around Henry. 

"How was town? Did you find any pretty dresses there?" Alice asked.

"What about food? Oh! Or bones? Did you find any bones?" Boris wanted to know. "Or maybe hamburgers, sandwiches, tater tots, brownies, cookies, cupcakes, candy…"

"What's that thing?" Bendy interrupted Boris as he kept naming foods, pointing at this strange object. It looked like a ruler. Like a really tall ruler that could nearly reach the ceiling. He wasn't sure what in the world it was for, though. What could Henry possibly measure that was that huge? 

"Now, now, let's step back and let Henry through. He probably wants to sit down for a little." Linda said, chuckling at the toons crowding around her husband. 

"Right!" Alice spoke, and the three stepped back, letting Henry through. 

"I will answer all of your questions in a moment once I have everything carried in." Henry assured them with a chuckle. He propped the ruler against the wall, then went back out to grab the other bags. When he was finished, he kissed Linda on the cheek before sitting down at the table. 

"I did get you some snacks, Boris." Henry handed Boris a paper bag. Bendy tried to peek in, but the bag was held a bit too high. He thought he could smell cookies, but he couldn't be sure. Whatever it was though, Boris seemed pretty happy with it.

"Thank you, Henry!" The wolf said, tail wagging happily. 

"What about me?" Alice asked. "Were there any dresses?"

"No, I'm afraid there weren't, Alice." Henry spoke, then reached into the bag. "Unless...this is a dress!" He pulled out this sparkly purple dress. Alice squealed in delight, taking the dress and looking it over. 

"It's beautiful!!! I love it so much!" The angel ran off to immediately change into her new dress, too excited to wait another second.

"I got something for you too, Bendy." Henry said. "I noticed how you've been drawing, so I bought you some art supplies." Henry gave Bendy a bag. The demon took it and looked inside, smiling at all of the colorful markers, colored pencils, and pens. 

"Thank you, Henry!!" Bendy was delighted, but was still curious about that ruler. "What's that?"

"It's a growth chart."

"A growth chart?" Alice asked, now back and in her beautiful dress. 

"It measures how tall you are. Parents usually measure and marks their children's heights, and it shows how much they've grown over time. It's a special little keepsake." Linda explained. "Henry and I had been talking about them. We thought it would be cute to measure and mark your height."

"Do you think we're gonna grow?" Boris was kind of hard to understand with the brownie in his mouth, but they were all used to it. Boris almost always had something that he was munching on.

"I think so. I'm not entirely sure, but we can mark and see. We might all be surprised by what we find." Henry smiled before standing up. He opened a drawer, getting out a black marker. "Who wants to go first?"

"Me!!!" Bendy cried. He was the most excited about this. He was tired of being so short. He hoped he'd grow taller. He wanted to be able to see himself in the bathroom mirror, or to look out windows without having to jump up. Reaching the top shelf would be amazing, but even Alice couldn't do that, so he wasn't holding his breath. 

"Alright. Come here, and stand up as straight as you can." Bendy obeyed, barely able to contain himself from bouncing in excitement. Once Henry marked his height, Bendy stepped away, looking at the chart excitedly. "What is it? How tall am I?" He asked.

"Four feet tall exactly," Henry answered.

Four feet tall. Bendy repeated those numbers to himself as his siblings were measured. Alice was five feet and three inches, and Boris's height was five feet and eleven inches. Boris was definitely the tallest of the three, but they had already known that. 

"How often do we check it?" Bendy asked, looking at the chart and wondering how long it would take before he grew.

"How about every three months?" Linda suggested.

"Three whole months?" 

"Well, growing takes time. Would checking every month make you happy, Bendy?" Henry asked with a small laugh.

"That sounds a lot better." The little toon nodded, satisfied. Now, to wait. Surely in a month he'd be taller, right?

Wrong. Like Henry said, growing did take a long time, and it seemed like it took the longest for Bendy. Boris and Alice grew, Boris reaching six feet and Alice getting to five foot five. Bendy stayed the same, right at four feet exactly. He didn't even grow a millimeter. He didn't understand it. Why couldn't he get taller? Why was he stuck at four feet? Would things ever change, or would he always be the tiny demon forever? Bendy the Tiny Demon didn't have a nice ring to it, the toon thought. He wished something would change, but it didn't. Until...it did.

It was an ordinary day. Bendy woke up and wiped his eyes, when he noticed that his legs were hanging off his bed by quite a bit. That had never happened before. When he got up, he noticed that he could touch the top of the doorframe with his hand. Was he taller? It couldn't be, right? He ran into the bathroom, and the sight to greet him in the mirror was surprising. He was taller!

He was tall and a bit thinner. There was ink seemingly over his eyes too, but he could see just fine. He looked awesome, and tall! He was so excited that he let out a cry, running down the stairs. "HENRY, LINDA!!!!" He shouted, running into the kitchen where they were getting breakfast ready. "I'M TALL!!!"

Henry dropped his coffee cup in complete surprise, his face something Bendy wanted to remember forever. Linda nearly dropped her plate that she was taking to the table. "Bendy! You're...you're giant!" She said at last.

"I know! Isn't it amazing? I woke up and I was tall!"

"Talk about a growth spurt." Henry chuckled. "I guess that's why you weren't growing. Your body was preparing to do it all at once."

"Can you measure me now?"

"Sure, but I may need to stand on a chair for it!"

Turns out, Henry did need to stand on a kitchen chair. Bendy was eight feet and two inches tall. He was taller than everyone in the house, even Boris! He did a little victory dance to celebrate.

"I can't wait for Al and Bo to see!" Bendy exclaimed.

"Oh, I'm sure they'll be surprised." Henry commented. 

"They might even faint." Linda joked. 

Bendy grinned. That would be pretty funny, though he hoped that they wouldn't be so surprised that they'd fall over and get hurt. He was more than ready for their reactions, and it seemed he wouldn't have to wait long. He could hear them coming down the stairs. "Boris, Alice! I have a surprise for you!" Bendy called up to them, and couldn't help the mischievous grin that formed on his face. This was going to be great.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feel free to point out any spelling or other mistakes you see so I can fix them. Feedback is always welcomed! Thank you for reading!


	2. Dancing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Henry visits Joey in his office, which isn't unusual, but he brought video camera attached to a tripod, and he wants Joey to dance with him. This must only be a reference for the cartoon, but that doesn't stop Joey from worrying anyway. Why? Because Joey has a crush on Henry, and he absolutely cannot dance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is what I wrote for day nine of The Ink Demonth. The prompt was: "fave ship." I have a lot of BatIM ships I love, but I felt like writing something for the ship Joey/Henry. I hope you all enjoy!

"Come on in! The door's unlocked." Joey called to whoever was outside his office door. The door opened, and in stepped Henry with a video camera attached to a tripod. 

"Hey, Joey." Henry said, a sort of sheepish look on his face."

"Hey, Henry!" Joey replied, smiling at the man. He wasn't expecting Henry to visit him in his office, and especially not to bring the camera with him. "How are you doing?" 

"I'm alright. You?"

"I'm doing really well today. Even more so since you came to visit." Joey almost always said stuff like that to flatter his best pal. Normally Henry would just chuckle and shake his head, but today Henry seemed a bit flustered at his comment, his face turning a light shade of red.

"Um, Joey? I was uh... wondering if you'd help me with something." 

"Oh? What is it?"

"Well, I'm having a bit of trouble animating Bendy dancing in the episode. I thought that if I recorded a reference, then it would be a lot easier to animate."

"Oh, I see. So, you want me to move the camera to record you dancing?"

Henry shook his head. "Not...exactly. Bendy's going to be dancing with a partner, so I...thought it would be good if I did too. That's where you come in, Joey." Henry's blush became stronger as he looked away. "I'm asking you to be my dance partner and dance with me."

That took Joey completely off guard. He never thought Henry would ask him to do that. He would be lying if he said that he wasn't excited. Henry was his crush. He had been for awhile. It wasn't exactly a secret, as a lot of the others could tell that he liked Henry. Still, he kept it from the man. Now might be the only time he'd get to be this close to Henry, and he wasn't going to let the chance slip through his fingers. Though, he was nervous, more nervous than he thinks he's ever been. 

Joey swallowed hard. "Alright. I should probably warn you. Um…, I don't know how to dance."

"I don't either." Henry said with a laugh. "I guess we can try this together, then. Let me set up the camera, then we can try it."

Joey watched Henry set up the camera. While Henry did that, Joey quickly tried to smooth down his hair and make sure his tie was straight before the cameras started rolling. He was startled by a hand coming into his line of vision. He looked up to see Henry holding his hand out. "Are you ready?" Henry asked. 

Joey nods, taking his hand and standing up. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm ready. I think."

Henry chuckled. "Same here. So...the first one is going to be him dancing with Alice. I figure they'd do a more kind of slow dance. It would probably be faster than what we're going to do, but I can just speed up the recording."

Joey nodded. "That sounds like them. I could see them twirling around and one dipping the other a lot."

"So can I. I was thinking that Alice would be the one twirling and dipping Bendy instead of the other way around. He's shorter, and it would be a more different take then what's usually the traditional way." 

"I like it."

Henry smiled. "So...your hands would start here…" Henry guided Joey's right hand to his upper back, right behind his shoulder blade. He took Joey's left hand in his right. Joey swallowed hard, his throat feeling dry from nervousness. Please, don't let him make this weird. If he made things awkward for Henry, he might just die or melt into the floorboards. "I think this is right. I mean, there's various ways, but this is the proper and traditional slow dancing method. This is right, isn't it?"

"I think so. Do you think so? Is this fine with you?"

"Yeah, it's fine. This...it's nice." Henry looked at his feet, then spoke quickly. "It's a nice way to dance. You know?"

"I know. It is. I can see Bendy and Alice dancing like this."

"Yeah. I think this will work. Just be prepared for me to step on your feet. I'm certain that's going to happen a lot."

"If you don't step on mine, I'll probably step on yours." Joey chuckled nervously. 

"Well, that makes me feel a bit better." Henry looked up into Joey's eyes, smiling. Joey felt his heart almost stop right then and there. "Okay, so we step to the left twice, and then to the right twice."

Joey nods. He thinks he should be able to do this. "Do you...want to try it?"

"Sure. Let's give it a try." 

They started to step to the left, not tripping over each other like they thought they would. They stepped back to the right, and completed the steps a few times before Henry surprised Joey with a twirl before going back to the steps. 

"How is it?" Henry asked. 

"It's good." Joey smiled. 

"Ready for a dip?" 

"I'm ready."

Henry dipped Joey, his face close. For a moment, Joey imagined Henry leaning in to kiss him, but Henry pulled him back up before they went back to dancing. 

They ended up trying some other dances. They tried to fox trot, which began with them stepping on each other's feet and mumbling quiet apologies before they finally got it right. Soon, they had the hang of it, and the hang of other dances. Joey found himself having a lot of fun. He was always relieved when Henry suggested a new dance, not wanting to stop just yet. 

"Alright, I think this will be enough reference. Let's just do one last one slow dance, and then we can stop." Henry spoke.

Joey nodded, his hands getting into the right position. "It's been nice dancing with you, Henry. I've really enjoyed it." 

"I have too, Joey. This has been really nice." Henry smiled softly, then dipped Joey. He looked in Joey's eyes, not bringing him back up right away like he normally did when they did dips. "Let's do this again sometime? Just for fun?"

"Yeah, let's. That would be nice."

Henry leaned in and lightly kissed Joey, the man's face heating up as he realized that Henry actually kissed him! Henry pulled away a lot sooner than Joey would have liked. He stood up and stopped the recording. "I think this will do nicely." 

Joey was trying to calm his blushing down. His face felt burning hot. It didn't help matters when Henry came back for a quick second kiss. "Thank you for dancing with me, Joey. Remember that you promised that we'd dance again."

"I remember."

"Good. Then, it'll be a date." Henry smiled, picked up the tripod, and left Joey's office, closing the door behind him. As soon as Henry left, Joey buried his face in his hands, fighting off the urge to squeal in delight. He still couldn't believe it. His crush had actually kissed him!!

Meanwhile, Henry was blushing and trying not to freak out as well. He went into the break room to the employees waiting to hear the news. "So?" Susie asked. "How did it go?"

"I did it. We danced, and I kissed him. He promised we'd dance again." Henry answered. As soon as he did, the break room burst into applause. 

"It's about time!" Wally exclaimed. 

Henry couldn't help but laugh. Yes, it was about time. They had kissed, and he couldn't wait for when he'd get to kiss and dance with Joey again. It was going to be great.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! Let me know what you thought if you'd like, and as always, feel free to point out any errors you find in the story. Thank you!


	3. Laughing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alice hears the strangest sound in her domain. The sound of laughter. She finds that the source of the laughter is even stranger. The usually angry and stuffy Ink Demon is laughing. That isn't the only thing, though. It seems he wants to have fun and bring others some joy as well...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was what I wrote for day ten of The Ink Demonth. The prompt was "laughing." 
> 
> This story has mentions of the loop, and previous, canonical deaths in it. It doesn't go into very much detail though, and is supposed to be a wholesome and silly story.

There were many things that Alice was used to hearing down in her domain. Laughter was not one of those things. Screams of fear, gurgling from searchers, and noises from the butcher gang were common in the levels she called hers. The levels were full of fear, terror, and danger. She was always watching from the cameras, too. Nothing usually felt safe there, which made this laughter even more abnormal. Her curiosity was piqued, so she went to the cameras, trying to locate where the noise was coming from.

She soon found where the noises were coming from. The ink demon was there, doubled over in laughter. That in itself was confusing, but it hadn’t been the first time it had happened. Bendy had been a lot more…different lately. It started all of a sudden, and while she couldn’t care less, she noticed it had all started a little after Bendy claimed they were all stuck in a never-ending time loop that stayed the same no matter what, and went on for all eternity. She remembered that weird exchange like it had just happened a minute ago.

“What on earth are you doing in my dressing room?” Alice had asked from the speakers. That vile demon. How dare he do such a thing?!

“Oh, just looking to borrow one of your dresses.” Bendy replied, looking through the racks of them. “I need…a long one.”

“You better get your nasty, inky hands off of my dresses and out of my dressing room, or I’ll-”

“What? Have your darling errand boy break my cutouts? You already did that. Capture Boris? You did that too. Frankly, I’m not sure why you insist I’ll get all upset over that.”

Now, capturing and dissecting Boris was something she frequently did, but she never touched his precious cutouts. She didn’t have an errand boy either. It would be nice to make someone do things for her, but she didn’t have anyone to do that, aside from the Projectionist that collected hearts. However, he did that on his own, and was in no way friendly to her or anyone.

“What are you talking about?”

“Oh, you don’t know?” The demon asked, sounding smug that he knew something she didn’t. “We’re in a time loop, you know? A never-ending one. It stays the same no matter what anyone tries. We all die. You die before me though. You get killed by another Alice.”

“…That’s…nice… What does that have to do with you being in my dressing room?”

“Well, if we’re stuck in this thing, I’m going to make the best of it.”

“By wearing one of my dresses?”

“Oh, no. I’m not wearing it. Sammy is.”

“Do I even want to know why?”

“Well, we both agreed that he would look absolutely stunning in one, so he wanted to give it a try. If he likes it, then he’s going to perform a ‘sacrifice’ while in it. It’s going to switch things up for a man named Henry. It could be fun.”

“Hmm… well, honestly I couldn’t care less about what you do. So, have fun with that.”

“Yeah, right.” Bendy said sarcastically. “Anyway, thanks Alice. Sammy’s going to be so happy.”

That had been her exchange with him. Now, it seemed he pranked this man. Maybe this was the man named Henry that Bendy mentioned?

“I can’t believe you drenched me in ink. That was funny. Oh, and the thing you pulled with the sacrifice was actually really nice. Sammy got on the topic of dresses somehow, then we started talking about fashion. He said a blue dress would look good on me. I wasn’t convinced, but the more he talked about it, the more I believed him. We had a good chat.”

Bendy laughed. “Oh yeah, I can see that. He was thrilled when I gave him the dress. It looks great on him. I knew it would. He has the confidence to pull anything off. Though, I’m surprised he didn’t try to put on a fashion show.”

“Maybe in chapter five he will. He was making plans about having one while we talked.”

“He was? I’m definitely attending that. I wouldn’t miss it for the world. I just wonder what Tom would do.”

“Probably shake his head, or watch in confusion. I don’t think he’ll attack. Allison will probably be too enthused and supportive of the show for him to.”

“She totally would!” The two laughed at what Bendy said.

Alice didn’t understand anything they were talking about. That annoyed her, too. She didn’t like others knowing things that she didn’t. “What are you talking about?” She demanded.

“Oh, hey Alice. We’re talking about the time loop. You know, the thing I mentioned in the dressing room.” Bendy answered nonchalantly. “The dress I grabbed for Sammy was wonderful. You should have seen it. He looks great. I don’t think you’re getting it back anytime soon, though. He adores it. I can’t bring myself to ask him to part with it.”

“He can keep it.” Alice liked her own dress just fine. She wouldn’t miss it. “Anyway, you’re still going on about this time loop thing?”

“Yep. You can ask Henry about it if you don’t believe me. He’ll tell ya the truth.”

“I’ll try. You usually don’t want to listen and don’t believe us.” Henry spoke.

Alice considered this for a minute. “Well, this time I’ll bite. What’s with all this loop business?”

“Well, it all starts with a story…”

By the time Henry finished, Bendy was painting mustaches and glasses on his cutouts, apparently bored from hearing the story so much. “That’s the story of the loops. Wild, right?”

“Huh. It is pretty wild, I suppose. You’re saying Allison Pendle is still here, and is an Alice? Or, at least her clone is?”

“Mmhm.” Henry answered.

“She kills you too.”

“I heard that part, Bendy.”

“I know. Just thought you wanted to be reminded of it.”

“Bendy, I would throw something at you if I could. I will take off one of my shoes and toss it right at your face.”

“I’ll take one of Boris’s shoes and throw it at you, Alice. Don’t test me.”

“Please, don’t throw shoes, and especially not Boris’s.” Henry said.

“Alright. Well, what do we do now? Since there’s a whole loop?” Alice asked.

“Anything, really. Preferably something fun. I think I’m going to draw on your cutouts now, Alice.”

“Don’t you dare, Bendy!”

“Why don’t you come out here and stop me?”

“I can’t do that! I could get dragged back, and you know what caused my imperfections.”

“There’s some kind of hazmat suit in the dressing room. I noticed it while looking for the perfect dress. I think you’ll be fine wearing that. It seems legit. Like an actual suit and not a pretend one for a costume.”

“I can bring it.” Henry said.

“Okay then. Be warned though, I’m going to be coming for you, Bendy! I may just hit you with a cutout on a stick, too.”

“You’ll have to catch me first!”

“Deal, but don’t use that teleporting thing. That’s cheating.”

“Fine, fine. I’ll play fair.”

“You better.” Alice turned off her speaker, and then started laughing. This seemed like it was going to be fun. It was a total change from what the studio was normally like, but maybe this time, it was a good thing. Especially if she’d get to attack Bendy. She was so going to get payback for him bothering her all those times. It was going to be awesome.


	4. Environment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Henry reflects on the environment of the outside world, and of the environment of the studio that Joey keeps him trapped inside.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is what I wrote for The Ink Demonth day eleven. The prompt was "environment." I hope you all enjoy this angsty story.

Through the many years he spent fighting through the studio again and again, there were some things that Henry could still remember. The ink tried to claim his memories. The loops tried to muffle and replace them, but there were some things that it just couldn't. Things like what he had seen the first time he was left unattended in Joey's apartment. In the short period of time, he had managed to find a window, and for the first time in a long time, he had seen colors. Not just the dull sepia tones of the studio, or the ones of Joey's apartment walls, floor, and furniture. No, he had seen the true colors of the outside world. He had seen them, and they were absolutely beautiful. 

The world through the window was astonishing. The sky was such a bright, brilliant color. The strands of sunlight seeping through the leafy trees were as well. The grass was lovely and full, a delightful shade of… of… Henry struggled to remember the colors of the environment he was seeing. After so long, they were buried inside his mind. Deemed not important for his survival. Repressed. 

As he strained to remember, Joey came up behind him. "Don't strain too hard, Henry. You're going to start dripping." His old acquaintance had warned him. Henry took his advice, looking out into the world right in front of him but out of reach. 

"What are they?" Henry asked. "The colors?"

"Well, there's no name that truly can sum up the shade perfectly, but the sky is blue. The sunlight is a yellow color. A more golden yellow. The leaves on the trees are green, and so is the grass. The bark of the tree is usually a brown color." Joey answered. 

Henry repeated the colors quietly to himself, making note of them. "Which one of the colors are your favorite?" He asked Joey, curious what someone who was with them everyday would pick. 

Joey thought for a moment. "Well, I suppose it would be blue. A blue darker than the sky. Like, the color of water. That kind of blue." Henry couldn't picture that exactly, but he tried. It was probably a nice type of blue. "What about you? What's your favorite?" 

"The color of the sun." Henry answered. "A really light yellow." It wasn't hard to think about. It was the color behind the exit in the first chapter. The one that he was almost able to walk into. He figured by now that it just led to Joey's apartment. All the doors did, but he liked to imagine now that it didn't. Like it would lead him outside into the warm sunlight. That the color was actually the sun inviting him out. 

"That's a really nice choice. Did you know the sun can make people happier? Sometimes it helps us feel more cheerful. I read that in a book. It seemed interesting. It also said bright colors might do the same. It's crazy, isn't it? That the colors you surround yourself with could change your mood?"

The conversation had stuck with him. In the studio now, he could understand why he felt so dull, depressed, and just...empty. The colors were the same way. They were all the same. So lifeless and dull. Like him. How could he feel happy trapped in an area with nothing but despair, pain, and sadness. So much of it that it even seemed to coat the walls?

Joey thought that the environment you surround yourself in was important, so why did he surround everyone in one like this? Why did Joey put him inside of it, too? Why didn't Joey let him go outside where it was beautiful and peaceful? Why wouldn't Joey let him be free?


End file.
